Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1901 — Trusts Affect Prices. [ARTICLE]

Trusts Affect Prices.

Professor Jeremiah W. Jenks of Cor-, nell university has made an unbiased study of the effects of trusts on prices, which appears in the current number of the North American Review. From the facts gathered by the United States Industrial commission he deduces the conclusion that prices are made higher by the trusts than they woul£ be otherwise. The fact that prices of manufactured commodities are now lower than they were before the era of combinations proves nothing either way. The crucial question is whether or not the margin between the cost of raw materials and the market price of the finished product has increased since the coming of the trusts. Even this is not an infallible test as regards prices, for the trust may use its power to force down the cost of the raw material it needs, but in general the size of this margin between raw material and finished product is the most reliable teet available. Paul Revere, the revolutionary hero, was an inventor, though not many people are aware of the fact. He was the first man to refine and roll copper. In 1801 he founded the Revere Copper company, and the company is still running, under the same name, in Canton, Mass. The King of Portugal is clever with the brush and has been awarded several medals for his pictures at exhibitions. As a rule, however, he works in pastel, and thus spends many a leisure day sketching favorite spots along the coast